Why do health care medical worker use medical terminology instead of standard English words?

Answer 1

Medical terminology is much easier, quicker, and takes up less space than standard English words do. For example, to document in a patient's chart:

Patient complained of having a headache every day, has been taking aspirin every fours hours for three days, but with no relief from pain. Doctor has prescribed (name of med) to be taken three times a day.

It would be much quicker and easier to write:

Pt. c/o HA q d, taking ASA q 4 h x 3 d, c no relief. MD rx (name of md) t.i.d.

The above says the same thing as the long paragraph above that, but takes much less time for busy medical professionals. The information below will explain what the medical terminology used in the above is.

Pt. = patient

c/o = complains of

HA = headache

ASA = aspirin

q = every

h = hour/hours

d = day

c = with (the c should have a horizontal line above it)

MD = doctor

rx = prescribed

t.i.d. = three times a day